The market was analyzed to have shrunk in the second quarter of 2022, with the activities of smart speaker brands weakening.

The US smart speaker market continued to contract in the second quarter of 2022, declining 14% year-over-year, according to Omdia's latest quarterly smart speaker tracker.

Amazon-branded smart speakers grew 33% year-over-year in the second quarter, while brands like Google and Apple saw declines of 31% and 57%, respectively.

Given the rapid growth of the US smart speaker market over the past few years, smart speaker penetration in the US has increased from 36% in 2017 to 52% in 2021. This suggests that brand activity has weakened compared to previous years.

As of April 2022, more than 35 smart speaker models have been discontinued. Among the brands, 46 (63%) have not released a new smart speaker since 2019, and 34 (46%) have not released a new smart speaker since 2018.

“As smart speaker launches decrease in frequency, Omdia anticipates that new use cases will be introduced to the market given the significant installed base,” said Teik Chuan Goh, Omdia Research Analyst. “This high penetration rate could reduce demand for replacement speakers while also fostering new opportunities such as senior care, healthcare monitoring, and security features/services.”

In the second quarter of 2022, France, Germany, and the UK shipped 3.6 million smart speakers, with Amazon accounting for about 80% of those.

In Korea, China, and Australia, 21 million smart speakers were shipped.

Alibaba led the market with a 36% share of shipments in the second quarter. Baidu came in second, followed by Xiaomi and Huawei.

“The next phase of the smart speaker industry will be much more challenging and controversial,” Kozak said. “It’s about becoming a more active assistant in the home without compromising privacy or being annoying.” In short, more proactive and intelligent digital assistants are the next generation of smart speakers, but it remains to be seen whether they will be enough to revitalize a stagnant industry,” he said.